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Permanent Residence Document Checklist Generator

Answer the questions that follow and receive tailored advice on the documents you need to submit:

Permanent residence document checklist generator

Please answer the questions below and we will give you advice on the documents you need for a permanent residence application. You can save and continue later. Once you are finished, you can then put together your application, make payment and submit it.

About your application

Qualifying for permanent residence

In order to qualify for permanent residence you need to be an EEA citizen who has lived in the UK for at least five years at some point in the past and who during that time was engaged in a qualifying activity. Or you need to have been the family member of such a person or of a British citizen under the Surinder Singh route.

The qualifying activities are:

1. Employment, i.e. working for a company or person and being paid a salary or wage

2. Job seeking or unemployment. You can still qualify for permanent residence even if you were seeking work or unemployed for periods of time. You can have been a job seeker for up to three months before a period of employment and you can be unemployed for up to 6 months and perhaps longer. If you application relies on over 6 months of unemployment you should see personalised legal advice and we can refund your payment for this application checking service.

3. Self employment, i.e. working but for yourself and not under the direction of another. Any self employment has to be "genuine and effective" which means that very low income and very occasional work might not qualify.

4. Self sufficiency, i.e. being able to live in the UK without claiming benefits and supporting yourself with another source of income or savings.

5. Study, i.e. studying at school, college or university on a recognised course where a recognised qualification will be achieved at the end of the course.

We advise you on the necessary documents at the end.

Are you applying for permanent residence as an EEA citizen or as the family member of an EEA citizen?*

EEA citizen

Family member of EEA citizen

Family member of British citizen

What kind of family member are you?*

Spouse or civil partner

Child under age of 21

Dependent child age 21 or over

Dependent parent or grandparent

Durable (unmarried) partner

Dependent relative or member of household

Are you still the family member of a qualified EEA national? (select "no" if your relationship ended)*

Yes

No

If your relationship with the EEA citizen has ended you may qualify for permanent residence but because of the complexity of this type of case we are currently unable to perform an application check for them. You will need specific personal legal advice and this application checking service is not currently suitable for you, we are sorry. If you have already made payment we will issue a full refund.

Select what qualifying activity you rely on for the EEA national (more than one can be selected)*

Employment (salary or wage)

Job seeking or period of unemployment

Self employment

Self sufficiency

Study

If relying on the Surinder Singh route, the qualifying activity must have taken place in another EEA Member State. The EEA(PR) only allows for employment and self employment but other qualifying activities should also qualify as well, although there is a risk of refusal with the necessity of appealing. We will warn you if we think there is a risk.

Have you been outside the UK for more than 6 months at any one time?*

Yes

No

If you have been away from the UK for more than 6 months at any one time during your 5 year qualifying period then you do not qualify for permanent residence at this time.

You will need these documents

As the family member of an EEA citizen you will need to submit:

1. Evidence you are related as claimed to the EEA citizen and that you qualify as a family member

AND

2. All of the evidence to show that the EEA citizen has acquired permanent residence.

To prove you are the spouse or civil partner of an EEA national you will need to include your marriage certificate. If you were previously married you may also need to include your divorce certificate as well.

You do not need to show that you are living together or that you share accommodation and you will still qualify for permanent residence even if you are separated but not divorced. If you are divorced you may qualify for permanent residence but will need personal legal advice and your case is not suitable for our checking service.

The Home Office is thought to use "risk criteria" to conduct interviews or visits in some spouse and partner cases. These seem to include A8 and A2 women marrying Asian men, cases where there are no children and cases where there is no evidence or weak evidence of living together. If you are worried about a visit or interview and you have been living together then you may want to submit such evidence in order to avoid delays.

To prove you are the child of an EEA national you will need to submit your birth certificate as proof of your parentage. If under the age of 21 you do not need to prove you are dependent or that you live with your EEA national parent.

To prove you are a dependent child over the age of 21 you will need to submit your birth certificate and evidence that you are dependent.

Evidence that you are dependent might include:

- evidence that you live with your EEA national parent

- evidence that your EEA national parent regularly transfers money to you. The clearest form of evidence is to submit your bank statements showing transfers from your parent and if it is not clear from whom the payments are received then corresponding bank statements for your parent as well

- evidence that you are a full time student and therefore that you do not have a separate source of income.

To prove you are a dependent parent or grandparent you will need to submit your child's birth certificate naming you and evidence that you are dependent (and if grandparent then your grandchild's birth certificate as well).

Evidence that you are dependent might include:

- evidence that you live with your EEA national child or grandchild

- evidence that your EEA national child or grandchild regularly transfers money to you. The clearest form of evidence is to submit your bank statements showing transfers from your child or grandchild and if it is not clear from whom the payments are received then corresponding bank statements for your child or grandchild as well

- evidence that your child or grandchild pays for some or all of your daily needs such as travel, mobile phones, food and medical bills

The Home Office asks for evidence of your other income sources and for a statement of your expenses. This information does not have to be provided if it is clear that you live with your child or grandchild and that he or she transfers substantial sums to you regularly and/or pays for your daily needs. Providing this information may actually harm your chances of success. We can advise you on this as part of our service.

To prove you are the durable partner of an EEA national and that you qualify for permanent residence, you will need to prove that you are still the durable partner of the EEA national. Evidence that you cohabit with your EEA national partner will be very useful even though there is no requirement that you do cohabit. Any such evidence should cover the whole of the five year period for acquiring permanent residence. As a rule of thumb, one piece of evidence for every three months should be sufficient. Evidence might include:

- utility bills

- bank statements

- other official correspondence from independent third parties

The evidence should come from different sources, i.e. five year of gas bills alone will not be sufficient.

If you have not cohabited throughout the period, you will need to explain why and how you have maintained your relationship instead. There will be a risk of refusal in such cases.

The Home Office is thought to use "risk criteria" to conduct interviews or visits in some partner cases. These seem to include A8 and A2 women marrying Asian men, cases where there are no children and cases where there is no evidence or weak evidence of living together. If you are worried about a visit or interview you may want to put particular effort into gathering careful evidence of your relationship.

To prove you are a dependent relative or member of household of an EEA national and that you qualify for permanent residence, you will need to prove that you co-habit with your EEA national sponsor. The evidence will need to cover the whole of the five year period for acquiring permanent residence. As a rule of thumb, one piece of evidence for every six months should be sufficient. Evidence might include:

- utility bills

- bank statements

- other official correspondence from independent third parties

You will also need to prove you are a dependent. Evidence that you are dependent might include:

- evidence that you live with your EEA national sponsor

- evidence that your EEA national sponsor regularly transfers money to you. The clearest form of evidence is to submit your bank statements showing transfers from your sponsor and if it is not clear from whom the payments are received then corresponding bank statements for your sponsor as well

To prove period(s) of employment you need one or more of:

- P60s for each of the years on which you rely

- payslips covering any periods that fall outside the P60s

- if possible a letter from each employer confirming the dates of employment

The Home Office requests bank statements in order to ascertain whether your salary or wages have been paid into the relevant account and the wage or salary slips are not fakes. You do not need to submit bank statements if you provide the other evidence above and if you do decide to submit bank statements then you can black out all details except your income if you wish. The civil servant seeing your application does not need to see what you spend your money on.

To prove you qualify for permanent residence even though your five year period (or that of your sponsor) includes periods of job seeking or unemployment you will need to produce for those periods:

- evidence that the EEA national was in fact self sufficient, meaning did not claim benefits and had enough money to get by for the relevant period (see below)

- for any period where the EEA national was looking for work, evidence of looking for work, such as any records of jobs applied for (check old emails maybe?) or any job adverts still have filed away

- evidence of being registered as unemployed and evidence of what was done to find work during that time

- a short letter addressed to the Home Office explaining from memory what was done to find work

To prove period(s) of self employment you will need documents to show clearly that the EEA national has been lawfully and genuinely self employed such as:

- record of National Insurance contributions covering the whole period on which you rely

- business bank statements showing client payments into your account

- tax returns for the relevant period

- accounts for relevant period

- you could also submit details of marketing material, your website or similar if available

The Home Office requests bank statements in order to ascertain whether your income has been paid into your account and that there is real and effective income. You do not need to submit bank statements if you provide the other evidence above and if you do decide to submit bank statements then you can black out all details except your income if you wish. The civil servant seeing your application does not need to see what you spend your money on. If you have a business bank account (many self employed people do not) it may simply be easier to submit those business bank statements, though.

A full list of all the documents the Home Office requests can be found at Section 18 of the EEA(FM) and Annex B of the EEA(FM) Guidance Notes but you do not need all of those documents to make a successful application. The list of documents seems to be deliberately designed to dissuade people from applying.

To prove your eligibility based on period(s) of self sufficiency you will need to provide evidence to prove that the EEA national had sufficient income or resources to live in the UK without having recourse to public funds. Such evidence might include:

- bank statements showing a healthy bank balance

- evidence of sources of income (income from a non EEA family member working in the UK can be a problem)

- sources of income might be investment income, rental income or a pension, for example

- proof of comprehensive sickness insurance cover for the relevant period

To prove your eligibility from period(s) of study you will need:

- a letter from the school, college, university or other educational/training establishment confirming the EEA national's enrolment on a course. The letter should be signed and dated by an official of the establishment, be on their letter-headed paper, and confirm the details of the course

- a signed statement by the EEA national that sufficient financial resources were held so as not to be a burden to public funds

- documents that show that the EEA national did indeed have sufficient resources (bank statements, scholarship grant or similar)

- proof of comprehensive sickness insurance cover for the relevant period

Updates, commentary and advice on immigration and asylum law

Disclaimer

The information and commentary on this website is provided free of charge for information purposes only. The information and commentary does not, and is not intended to, amount to legal advice to any person.

We try to make sure information is accurate at the date it is published. Immigration law changes very rapidly, though. The older the blog post on this site, the more likely it is that there have been legal developments since it was published.